Forever Strangers
by Wolf of the Crescent Moon
Summary: When six teenagers receive powers...how will it change their lives?


Forever Strangers

Morgan looked up at the clock. _Geez can't you go any faster?_ He thought to it hoping it would read his thoughts and get a clue! He moved his hand over the metal bar of the desk and shocked himself.

"Ow! Geez that happens to me a lot more these days." Morgan muttered looking at his professor.

That shock was the beginning of something Morgan and six others would come to realize as a "huh...that's different" moment.

Finally the clock his Ten-fifty he had ten minutes to get to choir. At least he knew he'd see his friends there. Unfortunately it was Christmas music time and everyone was singing the same songs over and over. It was like a bunch of repetitive parrots flying around in Morgan's head. They were all singing the same thing and there was one for every song that was sung.

He walked into the building choir was in and began to ascend the stairs. _It's always colder in here. They never heat this part of the building._ Morgan thought as he got to the second floor and entered the heated part of the building again.

Morgan walked down the hall and through the double doors to see the usual lockers he'd never use and then he proceeded into the choir room itself.

Everyone was talking doing there own thing and Daniel called out to Morgan in his usual high pitched voice.

"Morgan!" he yelled and put his arm around his neck when Morgan got up into the risers.

As Morgan touched the back of the bar on the risers he got shocked again.

_Dang it! What time is that number 66?!_ he thought madly.

These shocks were really getting on his nerves and he didn't know why there occurring. They were frustrating because they weren't the most painful things in the world but they would not stop.

Kurt and Travis walked in together and put there things away walking up to Morgan in the risers.

"What's up?" Kurt asked as Morgan. As Kurt got close Morgan shocked him.

"Dang it! Sorry Kurt. I've been very...ecstatic to see you?" he asked intending for a very pad pun.

"Aha ha ha your funny." Kurt said sitting down waiting for Mr. Morris' student director to begin class.

Randy showed up a little late and walked in. He had a very bad headache. It would not stop hurting and he'd already taken two Tylenol pills. It was like people were banging base drums into his head. Randy couldn't focus on anything because of this racket in his head. It was killing him slowly and he didn't think he'd make it through the day.

"Geez Randy you've looked better." Zach said critical of everything as usual. He was standing next to Travis on the top row. He looked over at Kurt and started talking about some TV show. Morgan didn't care he was just wanting some lunch. Choir was always right before lunch and he was always starving.

Today was off. Something was about to happen that this group would not understand. It would change their lives and friendship forever.

Later the group was in Morgan's dorm eating lunch and hanging out. Kurt, Travis, and Morgan were on the couch, Randy was laying on Morgan's bed. Zach was sitting by the computer.

"Randy whats wrong? You've been holding your head all day." Kurt noticed.

"Its this stupid headache it won't go away." Randy said he was in a cold sweat now.

Morgan looked at him and said "Maybe you should go home dude."

"I can't...move it hurts too bad." Randy said squinting and tossing and turning.

"Dude its getting bad you need to go home." Kurt said.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Randy said angrily. This pain was finally affecting his temper.

"Seriously, we should take you home or to a hospital." Travis said getting up to move him. As Travis got closer and right before he got to the bed Randy shot up. His eyes were bloodshot and he yelled

"I said don't tell me what to do!"

His hand flew up and faced Travis open palmed. Travis flew backwards like a sack of bricks just hit him. He hit the door leading to the outside and slid down groaning. Kurt, Morgan, and Zach just stared open mouthed.

Randy would have been shocked but he was just feeling relief. His headache had just receded and he sighed a sigh of relief.

"What the heck did you just do?!" Morgan asked.

Travis was slowly getting up and he was bleeding on the back of his head.

"I...I'm sorry!" Randy said not knowing what he had just did.

Zach and Kurt exchanged glances and jumped up from their seats.

"Did you just...throw him with your mind?" Zach asked.

"That's ridiculous. What do you think this is X-Men? This isn't some comic book you know." Kurt said. Morgan's room mate Skylar came in and walked over to the bathroom.

"Don't say a word." Morgan whispered.

Travis got up and walked over to the couch. Morgan got him some paper towels for the bleeding.

"Thanks Randy...now I have a headache." Travis muttered.

Morgan looked out the window as Skylar came back into the room and noticed Travis bleeding.

"What happened to you?" Skylar asked.

"I uhhmmm-" Travis was cut off by Kurt interjecting

"He slipped and hit his head on the door over there."

"Wow looks nasty. You okay?"

"Yeah...I never saw it coming." Travis said rolling his eyes.

The group went on pretending nothing had happened until about 12:45 when Kurt and Randy had to leave to two dimensional design. Travis left as well he had to go to drawing. On the way out Randy and Kurt heard some commotion across campus.

"So...what's it like?" Kurt asked.

Randy shrugged he was just as confused about this as Kurt was. He didn't know how to use this new ability. Furthermore he didn't know if he wanted to. _What do I do now?_ He asked himself.

"How did you get that ability...from where...and how long have you been able to do it?" Kurt asked.

"I don't know. I never realized I could do stuff like that. I just had that headache and next thing I knew Travis was thrown into the door." Randy said.

The two were in front of the library when the commotion on campus was getting closer. They heard screaming and looked up. Randy was already inside the door of the library but Kurt was outside. Kurt saw a car speeding down the road, the driver was obviously drunk. His music was blaring and people were running across the street trying to get away.

A little boy was running with his mother and he tripped and the mother kept going. She turned and saw her boy was no longer with her, and the car was still speeding.

Kurt looked at Randy and yelled "Stop it! You can stop the car!"

Randy was panicked he just shook his head like he didn't understand. He could use his powers like some kind of hero.

From that moment on Kurt didn't think, he just moved. He ran for the little boy and dove for him. He covered the little boy and as the car struck both of them at fifty miles an hour. A sickening crunch was heard as their bones were snapped in two. They were smashed to the side of the road. Neither one of them moved. The driver continued on straight but swerved and eventually hit a light post.

Kurt's eyes opened and he looked down at the boy. Both of them were badly injured and Kurt felt pain throughout his entire body. He couldn't move anything and saw the puddle of blood he was in.

It was at that moment that another mysterious occurrence happened. As people surrounded the two to see the damage Kurt's wounds were...closing. His joints and muscles were popping back into place and repairing.

His neck reversed and went back to normal and he could move again. Little by little his pain was receding.

_I don't understand... I should be dead. Why am I still alive...and starting to feel better? _Kurt asked himself.

_The boy! No this isn't right! I dove to save him and only I come out of this alive?! That's wrong...its wrong!_ Kurt thought and put his hand on the boy's neck.

"If only...if only..." Kurt focused and his hand started to glow a light blue. He could feel the boy's neck becoming one again and the cracks in the spine were sealing back into place.

The boy's wound closed and slowly he opened his eyes too.

_There...that's all I wanted. As long as your good too._ Kurt thought.

He raised himself up off the ground and carried the boy over to his mom.

"How did...thank you." said the lady as she took her son and began to examine him.

People around began to clap and a couple people came up to Kurt. They couldn't believe he was...fine. He was better than fine. Kurt walked over to Randy who was gaping at him.

"Its just one of those days." Kurt said as one last joint popped back into place loudly.

"Ow!" Kurt yelled in the lobby.

Travis was in his drawing class. He was frustrated as usual with the lack of passing time.

His charcoal was rubbing against the paper wrong and creating an awful friction which wore Travis' patience down even more. He didn't like this class it was always boring. Same thing every time, come in draw something completely random for two and a half hours. It twas killing him. Travis could not do much more than be frustrated though as time would go on its own sweet schedule. Looking at the still life in front of him, Travis could feel his anger rising. He couldn't explain why he was so angry...almost as if he were unstable.

"Okay guys, settle in this is going to be a long period. This still life is only going to be up for the next two and a half hours so you need to be sure to work hard." said the teacher.

Mr Brunswick walked over to them as they were starting. Twenty minutes later, they were well into a set drawing pattern and starting over would be a pain the rear.

Another thirty minutes passed and Travis was now gritting his teeth with every stroke of charcoal that went over the paper. He was about to explode. Travis couldn't get a grip on himself for much longer it felt like he was holding something terrible inside. He was ready to start clawing at the air and start gnashing his teeth.

Mr. Brunswick walked over and tapped Travis on his shoulder lightly. Travis had a bad feeling about this but he pulled his Ipod headphones out of his ears and the teacher got next to his ear and whispered "Listen your lines are a little too off. I think it's too dark to fix so hurry and start over and get as much done as you can."

This was the last straw Travis stared right at the still life. It was a stack of firewood on a table and he'd hated it from the start. His eyes glowed red and he even breathed out a little smoke as he let it out.

The still life exploded! Wood splinters flew everywhere and the table collapsed.

The explosion was small enough not to do any damage to anything but the still life, but everyone was flabbergasted.

Travis was thinking of what to say....what could he say? Mr. Brunswick finally did it for him.

"DeeJay! Why did you plant fireworks in the still life?!" he yelled angrily.

"I didn't do it!" DeeJay sputtered from across the room.

Looks like Travis didn't have anything to worry about. DeeJay the class prankster took care of this for him. He merely smiled as he realized that he had a power now to. Travis could blow stuff up with his mind! Still...would the rest of his power be like that...where he had to let it out?

Morgan was sitting on his bed trying not to move. Everything was shocking him and now it was to the point of hurting him. He was in constant pain now. The shocks were getting too serious. He could even see the last one! He was getting jittery because it was hurting so bad. He couldn't take it anymore and he left the building. As Morgan stepped outside he felt this overwhelming need to get away from everything. He walked past a metal sign and the shocks were humongous. He saw sparks fly over the static electricity hitting him and it burned badly.

Morgan saw across the street there were cow pastures and...not metal except a barbed wire fence.

He needed just a few seconds of relief if anything. It was killing him to stay this way. He wobbled across the street, his body felt wrong. The pain was keeping him from doing anything other than just walking forward. Morgan made it to the barbed wire and the shock blew him backwards. He jetted across the street as an electrical explosion occurred.

Holding his hand up he could feel the electricity going with his heartbeat. It was almost like he was almost on top of a pillar of discovery. He could move a little better as the pain receded some but not completely.

As he ran at the fence this time he held his hands forward and grabbing the fence. He felt a surge of power, it was an electric fence...figured.

"Come on you hunk of metal! Give it to me!" Morgan yelled at the top of his lungs.

This time when he had taken all the fence was going to give him he reversed the flow and blew the fence apart in several areas. Now that the fence was out of his way, he ran out into the field and thought he was home free. There was nothing to shock him out here...he was wrong. He heard thunder rumbling in the distance and looked up.

"Oh God no..." he muttered as lightning lit across the sky.

Morgan ran for cover as bolts jettisoned from the sky. He swerved left, then right, and finally it came to him. He could feel them getting closer, and he knew that if he was going to get control of this. He had to be struck. He stopped and reached inside himself pulling the static current towards him.

"Hit me!" he yelled and it did. With full force lightning slammed into Morgan. Even his teeth were glowing the electricity flowed through him. Finally it got to a point where Morgan sank to his knees and smiled.

"It feels...good." he said sighing in ecstasy. He held it all in for a second and then realized it had to be released. He stood and looked at all the cows in the field, they were as far away as they could be and Morgan raised his arm and aimed at one.

"Sorry, but I could use some practice." he said and fired a bolt into the cow. It let out a shrill moo and fell to the ground. It rose shakily and Morgan pumped even more power into it this time. And for the second round, the cow didn't get up.

He had so much more to release but he'd be caught pretty soon he could already hear police sirens on their way. He looked up in the sky and raised both his arms pumping out all the electricity until he felt tired.

"That should do it." Morgan said and he ran for the dorm. He made it back inside just as the campus cops arrived.

Putting the key into his door he opened it and walked inside. Skylar was wide eyed and said "Where have you been?!"

"I was in Witherspoon. I had to go back to a classroom to get homework." Morgan lied.

"Some electrical explosion went on across the street, they were talking about evacuating the dorm." Skylar said frantically.

"Oh, well its over though...right?" Morgan asked faking fear. He knew that with these new abilities that it was from over.

The next day they were all sitting in Morgan's dorm. It was lunch time and they had all gotten subs from Blimpie.

"Ok...so everybody can do something right?" Kurt asked.

A knock came from the window meaning someone else was outside.

"Man! We didn't even get to talk about it. There are too many stupid interruptions." Morgan said collapsing in his chair and clenching his fist. It glowed blue with electrical flow.

"Stop it!" Kurt said pointing at Morgan.

Travis walked back in with Zach another one of their friends. Zach took off his hat and put it on the chair and was taking off his gloves when he said "You know, the past couple of days have been interesting. They've shown me stuff...new experiences."

"You don't say." Randy said starting the Gamecube up to play a fight on smash brothers.

"Yeah, healing experiences, shocking experiences, things that would just make you explode they were so fascinating." Zach said looking at the gang.

Kurt exchanged glances with Morgan.

"What are you talking about?" Travis asked him.

"Don't think I didn't know. I can understand keeping people out of the loop. But electricity powers, surviving a car crash, throwing things with your mind, and detonating something with your mind are all something I'd tell close friends."

"How do you know all that?" Kurt asked.

"Same way I knew y'all were meeting now. I saw it about thirty minutes ago. I saw everything last night and before that I saw what my parents had gotten me for Christmas. I didn't believe it at first, then I looked under their bed and sure enough it was there. A new shirt, all green with a pocket on the front just like I wear." Zach said.

"So you have one too. You can see the future?" Travis asked..

"This is great! We all can do something extraordinary! Just think if we tried to use them for something huge. We can have anything we want now!" Morgan said excited.

"No. We keep these a secret and don't use them to hurt others. We need to try to ignore them if at all possible." Kurt said

"Oh yeah, I can shoot lightning and I'm gonna ignore it. Finally I can take things to the next level! I am going to use these powers to benefit me in every way possible." Morgan said standing up.

"You're going to keep them a secret. If we were given these powers for any reason it would not be for that. Just sit down and maybe things will go back to normal." Kurt said standing up as well.

Tensions were building in the room and everyone felt it. Kurt and Morgan saw this from two different perspectives. On one hand they had the power to fix any problems that came their way. Why not use them? But on the other hand, they did have a moral obligation to make sure the gang didn't get out of hand. After all who would stop humans with super powers?

"Sit down Kurt. You can't tell me what to do and you know you don't have the power to stop me." Morgan said.

"You have no idea what you're tapping into. What if our powers grow more? Or if you get into trouble you think the government is going to just sit back and watch us commit crimes? What if they deem us a threat and send in special forces to take us out?" Kurt said at Morgan.

"I don't think you're getting the picture. There is no 'we' here. There's individuals who have their powers and can make up their own damn minds. If you want to curl up in a ball in the corner do it, but tonight I'm going out to test my powers some more." Morgan said walking towards the door.

"You're not leaving this room until you answer to me." Kurt said face to face with Morgan.

"Move or I'll more you." Morgan whispered.

They two were fixing to start something and finally Zach intervened.

"Guys settle down! Fighting will get us nothing. While I agree we have a moral obligation to keep ourselves in line, Kurt its not your job to tell Morgan how to live his life."

It was at this point that Opal suddenly appeared in the middle of the room sitting down on the carpet. Everyone gasped and Travis jumped causing a sudden explosion in front of Opal knocking her back into the bed.

"What the Hell?!" Morgan yelled.

Opal sat up rubbing her head and Travis quickly apologized.

"Sorry, I don't have a handle on these yet." he said.

She rose slowly groaning and said "Not a problem, I suppose I shouldn't have just teleported in here unannounced like that."

"Opal you can teleport?!" Kurt asked flabbergasted.

"Yeah, from the sounds of it you all can do stuff too?" she asked.

An eerie silence filled the room as they all waited for something to happen. Morgan got past Kurt and left the room. Kurt looked at the clock and realized he had to get to English.

"Opal just don't let anybody know you can do that ok? We'll talk later, right now I gotta go to class. Come on Randy."

Randy put away his controller and left with Kurt. Travis left with Zach not too long after them and Opal teleported back to her dorm. Any events happening after this would just serve to further divide the group. These powers, these gifts or curses would make them forever strangers.

Later that night Kurt was driving around town trying to figure out where Morgan would test his powers. He had to stop him at all costs. Along the way Kurt saw some shadows along the walls of the downtown area. The town surrounding the university wasn't big, the downtown was a bunch of buildings with little shops in them. Kurt parked his car behind one of the buildings in a gravel lot and proceeded along the wall quietly.

"Just shut up and give me your money!" he heard.

"I swear to God I don't have any! I just have five dollars on me! Here take it. Just let me go please!"

"You're worthless. Give me your watch then!" he heard.

"Please no, my husband gave it to me. Its very valuable. Just take let me go!" the woman wailed.

The town was deserted at this hour, and no one was driving around either.

"Stupid woman!" was the last Kurt heard before the man grabbed her and hurled her backwards into the display glass. It shattered and she was cut badly. She was crying now and yelling in pain.

"Shut up before I-"

"You know its not good to treat a lady like that." Kurt said walking around the corner.

The man, startled, pointed his gun at Kurt and threatened him "If you know whats good for ya, you'll take a hike!" he yelled.

_It's not good. I can't get any closer without him guaranteeing to take her hostage. I can heal her, but I can't bring her back from the dead. If only I had a way to fight! If he shoots I'll heal, but I have no way to harm him! Dangit! I need some way to fight!_ Kurt thought furiously.

It was then that Kurt felt a pulse. It was coming from...all three of them. The girl's pulse and the thief's were very high, but Kurt could do more than that. He closed his eyes and concentrated. When he opened he was zeroed in on the man. Everything about him became apparent to Kurt. His heartrate, his muscles, and...his bones. Kurt saw the man through the eyes of a surgeon and it was then Kurt knew he could make his move.

"Last warning kid!" the thief yelled.

"No, you're past your last warning. Far past it." Kurt muttered in a low voice.

The man pulled the trigger and it hit Kurt's shoulder, then his leg was hit with a shot.

Kurt buckled screaming in pain, but he rose slowly as his body force the bullets out. His wounds closed and he raised his hand.

"My turn." he said and started to drain the man. The man felt light headed.

_What's happening to me? _He asked himself in his head.

Kurt got closer and then focused on his legs. He ran at the thief and dove for them. His hands were glowing green. Just as his hands made contact, the man collapsed under his own weight. His legs had been weakened to a point they snapped with the slightest amount of pressure.

_So that's how I fight..._ Kurt thought getting up. The man was wailing about his legs. Fortunetely Kurt was wearing a ball cap over his head so he couldn't be recognized. Now that Kurt heard police sirens he knew he had to go. He walked over to the girl who muttered "Thank you...what do I call you?"

Kurt placed his hands over her after he pulled her off the glass. His hands glowed green as he sighed. He wasn't used to using his power this much yet. So far he'd only practiced on one or two minor animals around his home.

He was breathing heavily as the wounds finally started to close. The girl gasped and asked how he was doing it. Kurt didn't say a word but rose slowly.

_I need to get out of here. If the cops arrive it won't be pleasant_ Kurt thought and turned to leave.

The girl caught his pants leg and stopped him. Kurt still hadn't let her see his face keeping the bill of the cap down.

"Wait, I want to thank you. And I still don't have your name. I'm Courtney. You don't look very much older than me you know...do you go to college at Tech?" she asked.

Kurt didn't say anything. He needed to leave no clues. So as he knelled down and helped her up (while still keeping his bill down) he said "My name is irrelevant. You won't recognize me next time we meet if we do. Don't speak about what happened either. Nobody will believe you and you'll only be labeled as Crazy." said Kurt as he ran in the other direction.

Courtney thought of running after him, but the cops would need her testimony as to what happened. _I wonder who he was...and how he did that..._ she thought to herself as the first police car pulled up.

_That was too close. I don't think I can take Morgan now..._ Kurt thought getting back in his car. That's when he heard thunder.

"Odd...weather showed now storm tonight....It's not raining either, almost as if. It's Morgan! It must be his lightning! Where though..." Kurt asked himself.

He started his car and got on the road heading for his nearest guess Morgan would strike.

Kurt knew he was right as he saw lightning come down from the sky and strike a bank.

He pulled into the plaza the bank was in and parked his car behind a dumpster that had a back road leading away from it. Exiting his car he ran to the bank. He knew he didn't have enough energy to use his health draining ability. But he couldn't simply walk away from this either.

Morgan was wearing a ski cap and Kurt still had his hat on.

"What are you doing?" Kurt asked calmly walking into the hole Morgan had made.

"Ahh so you made it just in time. Want some? There's plenty here and this will hold you up for a while too." Morgan said motioning to all the cash around.

"It isn't right and you know it."

"Oh it is so right, I did my research. The owner of this bank? He gambles, he does drugs, he uses the money to invest in illegal activities and then makes more by winning. I have the total right to take his money. If he had used it better I wouldn't have busted in."

"But it isn't his money either! The people put there money here so its safe. You'll be hurting them too." Kurt said

"The government will reimburse the bank. Not to mention he'll be dead tomorrow when he doesn't have the money to pay off his drug debts. That's why I'm taking some, and burning the rest..."

"What?! You've gone insane! You don't get to decide who lives or dies simply because you have some kind of powers. If there's a reason you've developed them its to help others!"

"You always were such a boyscout. Listen up, and listen well because I'm only saying this once. The world is full of gray, everything isn't black and white cut and dry. This man... this gravy sucking pig deserves whats coming. Life is better without them, they only exist to hurt others." Morgan said.

"There's always a firm line between right and wrong. This is for sure wrong, and I won't sit back and let you just commit this crime. Leave now, you can still get away before the cops make it here. Let's just go back and we can-" Kurt was cut off by a lightning bolt shooting past his cheek and cutting it. Kurt felt the sting of it and instead of covering it with his hand Kurt just stood there unflinching.

"That's my answer. This will continue, you can't stop me, and I will walk out of here 50 thousand dollars richer while burning the rest." Morgan said.

"You can't do that, I don't have any power to use against you right now but I will stop you."

"You've always been a friend and now you throw it all away? For some drug addicted freak. Why would you do something when you know we could be something more? With you on my side I'd be invincible...of course I already am now. You can't do anything to me as it is."

A shout came from one of the offices. Morgan and Kurt both jerked their heads towards it. The bank owner walked out with a gun pointed at Morgan.

"So you think I'm scum huh? Well I'm a crook, and your robbing from me so what does that make you?" the owner asked laughing.

"Last words?" he asked Morgan.

"Oh well...you would have died tomorrow anyway." Morgan said raising his hand at the man.

"No! Don't do this Morgan he-"

"To late!"

In all the confusion a gunshot went off and a huge dome of electricity went off knocking Kurt back into a wall denting it in.

Getting to his feet slowly and looking down at his bleeding from his chest, Kurt limped towards the vault. He looked over and saw the smoldering remains of the bank president.

_"_Can I...save him?" Kurt muttered.

"Don't bother. He's dead, I'm sure even all his innards are fried to a crisp. Even if you could heal. Him. It looks like you're barely healing yourself. What's the matter? I thought you were going to stop me. Oh well, I can't really have you coming at me like this anymore now can I? If I've learned anything tonight, it's that you're powers have a limit. I'm afraid this friendship is drawing to a close." Morgan said smiling and raising his hand.

"Morgan...you've done...some stupid stuff...but if you do this...I'll see you finished off myself." Kurt said dryly and with an intent look in his eyes.

"Goodbye Kurt. If you like it in Hell send me a postcard. I might come visit one day." and with that Morgan fired the rest of his energy into one concentrated bolt. Kurt gasped, this bolt glowed the brightest of any Kurt had ever seen before and it wasn't broken apart in any way. It was one clear focused beam with one objective: Kurt's demise. And at this point Morgan had it completely within his grasp.

Kurt felt the burn enter through his stomach. It only got worse as he was lifted off the ground and thrown through the hole in the wall and across the parking lot. He flew upward in a diagonal line until he was three stories in the air and the lightning finally stopped. A hobby lobby store was in the plaza and Kurt was still ten feet above that. He fell downward with a gapping hole where his stomach used to be. Kurt hit the metal roof with a THUD. Blacking out Kurt's story ended there...

Morgan was exhausted after that last bolt. His arm was bleeding badly from the gunshot wound and the police were within two miles now. He grabbed his sack of money and ran for his car. He got in and floored it away. He needed to rest for a while.

That night Travis was having issues of his own. He was out in the woods behind his house shaking. Trying to gather all the energy he needed, he focused on an area of trees. About half an acre's worth of trees exploded all at once.

"Its...getting worse..." Travis muttered as he hit the ground. He was exhausting his energy holding it in. Then it took energy to summon the energy to release. It would take a little time for the energy in Travis to build up again during which he could relax. But the gaps were shortening. That last gap had been merely 5 hours. He couldn't even sleep right now. This was way out of hand.

Zach awoke in a cold sweat. It wasn't good he felt nauseous. Walking to the bathroom he splashed cold water on his face and looked in the mirror.

"Tomorrow...I can't be anywhere around campus. It happens at four o'clock in the afternoon. There won't be a campus...there won't even be a town around it...." Zach uttered.

At school the next day Randy was walking to drawing class. He didn't want to be there, he had stayed up all night playing with his powers. As he walked into the art room he got a call on his cell phone. It was from Zach, the one time he put minutes on this crappy thing and Zach called him of all people.

Zach was fuzzy as he answered.

"Randy?"

"Yeah...what do you need..?"

"You.....get.....out....Travis...explo...Morgan will kill-" the line went dead shortly after. Randy couldn't make anything out of the dialog.

"Just a prank." Randy said walking up the stairs.

It was 9 as Zach sat in the chair. He held his cane in his lap. _It's time._ He thought.

A knock came at the door and Morgan walked in with a smile on his face.

"I see you got wind of my plan. Running only to Jasper though? Just enough to get out of blast range. And...not taking anyone else with you. This is not like you old timer." Morgan said widening his grin.

"I thought about it, I knew you'd come to kill me no matter where I ran, so this way you can't take anyone else with me." Zach said.

"Really...coming to a secluded hotel in Jasper..The Cliff House Inn...your final moments spent here. Is this how you wanted it to end? How was your burger? I figured it'd be your last meal and that's what you'd get."

"Its a funny thing when you can see the future Morgan. There are things you understand, some things are just written in stone and you can't avoid. One of the things written in stone this afternoon is my death...and as for you...I just won't say." Zach said putting on his trademark Fedora hat.

"You're gonna tell me a few things before I kill you. First off is Kurt really dead? Second, will killing Travis stop him from exploding? Last, what will Randy and Opal do before I kill them?"

"Well I see the future, but I don't have all the answers you seek. I don't see Kurt in any vision of the end...but you know what they say. The butterfly effect and all that stuff. If you do something to mess up the future, it changes. You don't kill Randy though...Travis does. As for Opal...I didn't see her in my vision." Zach said.

"Kurt isn't there because I killed him, Randy will die by my hand as will Opal. I'm the one to finish off anyone who stands in my way. Now will killing Travis stop his energy flow?"

"I saw the explosion Morgan. It happens one way or another. I don't know what triggers it because the vision started just as it was happening."

"In that case, your worth is spent. Any last words Zach? You know out of all of us. Your power turned out to be the most worthless of all. You can't defend yourself, or even fight back. Isn't that sad?"

"Well regardless it gives me the pleasure of causing you a little bit of pain before you kill me." Zach said pulling out a knife and hurling it at Morgan's bicep. Morgan growled in pain and sank to his knees as he grabbed it. The bandages were now torn and blood leaked down Morgan's arm.

He was sweating as he frowned at Zach. Zach however smiled and jumped out of his chair and raised his cane ready to strike Morgan.

"Too slow old man!" Morgan yelled raising his hand and shooting a bolt into Zach continuously. Morgan stood and walked over to Zach as he shocked him torturing him. Zach's body jolted and twitched, but he didn't give Morgan the pleasure of screaming.

In the end Morgan left Zach's corpse in the chair where their last moments started and began.

"Goodbye Zach. In the end your wisdom couldn't even save yourself." Morgan said leaving. He had an hour's drive back to Russellville.

Travis was in Algebra twitching. He needed a break, but the distance he would have to cover to get to a safe place to let the energy out would take 15-20 minutes to get away.

Every minute grind by like someone was chipping a chisel into him and taking out hunks of him bit by bit. It was three times as bad as the first time it happened.

Around noon, Opal walked down the hall out of her dorm and then realized she forgot a book back in her dorm. She opened the door and a hand grabbed and threw her to the floor. She was about to teleport but she was lightly shocked which electrical force causing her to lose focus. Morgan yanked her up and slammed her into the wall. He had a hand over her throat and he was still pumping electricity into her just enough so she couldn't focus to teleport away.

"What are you doing?!" she hissed.

"I'm finishing off every one of us because I don't want any opposition. Kurt showed me just what each one of you is capable and I killed him."

"You can't! He has healing powers!"

"Well I'm afraid I was too much because his powers were supremely weakened when I shot him the first time. So the second was guaranteed to finish him off. I should know, as I walked out of the building I saw his liver and stomach in the ditch. So I fried those too." Morgan said laughing.

"You lie." Opal whispered.

"Wonder why he hasn't returned your calls? Why haven't you seen him today? Don't you two have class together this morning. If his powers had saved him he'd have come back to warn or protect y'all yet here you stand about to be murdered." Morgan said slightly increasing the voltage and Opal groaned.

"Well any last words Opal? It turns out your power couldn't save you either." Morgan said with an evil chuckle.

Morgan flew up to the ceiling and then hit the floor. Opal was released and she collapsed to her knees.

"In one future where Zach doesn't die I didn't take the call and Opal dies. In another I take the call just minutes before Zach dies by your hand...and Opal lives." Randy said

Morgan groaned and his hand started to glow.

"Don't bother." Randy said as he caught Morgan's body and pinned him to the ground.

"Well you just think you have your bases covered don't you? Things can bend at the last second though!" Morgan yelled getting a fingertip free and shooting a bolt at the mirror on the wall. It bounced off and caught Randy in the leg.

That flinch was all Morgan needed to right himself and shoot at Randy.

Both of their arms raised and Randy's telekinesis was bending Morgan's electricity to everywhere else. The roof, the carpet, and the wall all were effected.

Soon they caught fire and the smoke alarm went off.

"Why don't you just die?!" Morgan yelled increasing the power of his bolt and knocking randy backwards through the door and into the hall. Before he could launch another Randy spun and the bolt hit the wall. Opal teleported out of the building to catch her breath. She still hadn't recovered from before. She was on the top of the art building and watched while catching her breath.

The standoff continued as Morgan exited the room and fired again at Randy who was holding him off with everything he had. Unfortunately Randy's powers took more of a drain on him and he had to stop when Morgan did for a breather.

"If I can't beat you head on then I'll have to use a sidewinder." Morgan said noticing a fire extinguisher beside Randy.

There was a jagged pipe exposed from where Morgan had blown a hole in the wall. It was sharp enough to stab lethally Morgan judged. He pulled it off and pointed at the fire extinguisher.

"Tell Kurt and Zach I said hi." Morgan said firing at the extinguisher making it explode. The force knocked Randy backward and out the window of the third story.

He fell and Opal saw that the fall would kill him. Concentrating and using the rest of his energy Randy slowed his descent and hovered just an inch above the ground slowly letting himself down.

Opal sighed with relief until she saw what was coming next. Morgan had hurled the pipe jagged end down at Randy. Randy saw it and had one shot to stop it. He focused his energy on it to grab it with his mind but then he realized he had exhausted his powers stopping his fall. The pipe continued and Opal screamed looking the other way.

Morgan looked down at a job well done. The spike had went straight through Randy's neck killing him instantly.

He looked for Opal but she was gone.

"Rats...not like she could have done anything to stop me anyway...now for Travis." Morgan said leaping down from the building and disappearing from sight as he ran away.

People were screaming and running from the scene, Opal had to find Travis, if Morgan was right he was the only one left alive.

After all afternoon of searching campus and finally at ten minutes until four Opal finally found Travis out at his car. He was sweating and panting heavily.

"Travis! What's wrong?" she said frantic looking for signs of Morgan.

"I can't hold this in much longer...the explosion...it'll be huge. I've...exhausted myself...Opal listen to me. I can't sleep, I can't eat, I can't function normally because of this wretched disability. At first I thought...it was cool you know? Now its...become a burden I can't...bear. You've gotta teleport me somewhere! Please I can't move anymore and I can' t hold this-"

Opal was zapped and flew backwards into a car in the lot.

The lot was nearly empty at this hour but it seems Opal found the one car still there to hit.

"Why hello Travis. Seems I found you, and just in time." Morgan said.

"Morgan?...What are you...doing?" Travis was barely able to whisper.

"Well I'll be frank. I'm here to kill you. You see in about..." Morgan stopped to check his phone for the time. "Five minutes you blow up and I wanted everyone to die by my hand. I need to made sure I am the cause of your death." Morgan said holding his hand up to Travis.

Opal appeared beside Morgan but he was apparently expecting this and he shot her across the lot again.

"Now Travis, relax. When you're dead this won't matter. Just hold still and-" Opal once more appeared by Travis trying to escape with him.

Morgan was angry and he shocked her from where she was.

"How about I just kill you first since we're on a schedule and your interrupting?!" Morgan yelled pouring electricity out of his body. He had to stop because out of nowhere his arm broke.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh! Oh God why???!!! How did this happen???!!!" he yelled falling to the ground.

"I told you Morgan. If you made the mistake I'd personally finish you off. However, I'm not going to kill you with powers. You're going to die with your own powers." Kurt said walking out from behind one of the cars.

He held a water gun...one of the old super-soakers. He sprayed Morgan and Morgan didn't understand why.

"You really have lost your mind haven't you Kurt. I mean I'm surprised your powers kicked in to save you after that, but geesh the fact your spraying me with a child's toy shows you have no brains left at all. Guess that part of the body never healed did it?" said Morgan arrogantly as he rose.

"Well Travis this is it partner. You die now."

"Morgan, this is your last chance to stop this. I'll put you in prison...but you'll be alive at least." Kurt said.

Morgan wasn't interested he charged up and tried to fire but only his body hurt. He screamed and fell to the floor.

"Aaaaaaahhhh!!!!!" he writhed in pain rolling back and forth.

"Water conducts electricity idiot. Or did you forget that?" Kurt asked.

After healing Opal, Kurt walked over to Travis.

"What's wrong? You look terrible. Don't worry we'll get you out of here and you can release some more energy." Kurt said reassuringly.

Opal...do me a favor and leave for a second ok? Go back to your house in Kingston for just a few minutes? I want to talk to Morgan alone.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"I'll heal, whats the worst that could happen?" Kurt said.

"Okay then...." she said and disappeared.

"You're the only one of us that gets to be free of blood-stained hands." Kurt said.

"I guess on some...level you already knew?" Morgan muttered.

"Yeah...Zach called me this morning...I should have been dead...but you know...you did something to change the future. What was it?" Kurt asked

"I think...instead of leaving you there and burning down the building thus saving energy I changed it by shooting you out the building I gave you a chance to heal..." Morgan uttered.

Kurt checked his watch.

"Twenty seconds...I guess in the end you can't change some things can ya?" Kurt asked.

"I'm so sorry guys...normally I release the energy above the skin...but I don't have the strength left...this ones coming from inside out." Travis said weakly.

"I didn't think we'd be walking away from this one..." Morgan said.

"Least Opal will..."

"Can you reassemble yourself from particles?" Morgan asked Kurt.

"Nope...some part of me needs to remain to regenerate. Oh and Morgan I forgive you. Just thought those would be my last words to ya..."

The three sat there reliving a few last moments of their friendships. Birthday parties, prom, car trips, and of course memories of Randy and Zach.

"Take us home Travis." Kurt said as Travis said one last inaudible apology. He released and the energy destroyed not just the campus but all the towns within a fifty mile radius.

Opal had the TV on in the living room and was crying. The news media had coverage everywhere. The rest of the afternoon she spend crying in her room.

Seventy two years later at Opal's funeral a man stood there. He wasn't much more than 21. He had long brown hair and he placed a flower on her casket.

"Sorry Opal...sorry guys...I was wrong. Out of all your curses Morgan was cursed with greed, Zach never had another single surprise in his life, Travis never had a moments peace, and Randy was murdered. Opal at least you got to die a peaceful death of old age. It appears my curse was the worst of all. I guess there were a few cells left after all...and with healing power...comes mortal immortality. I hope y'all can forgive me for not being with you. I promise I would if I could...but it seems that out of this poker game...I was dealt the worst hand of them all...now I'm stuck here...and the only other person who understood my predicament has finally moved on. In the end these curses isolated us from the rest of mankind. In the end we all became...forever strangers. And I will forever be a stranger." Kurt said turning to go. The wind was blowing west. He'd head that way...


End file.
